Over selling descriptions :Discussion Post

Hiya everybody, I hope your having a lovely day filled with cute baby animals, coffee, and great books.

Lately I’ve read a few books that sounded fantastic but didn’t deliver so I am going to share with you lovely people my frustration on Misleading descriptions.

Now I know the synopsis/descriptions is designed to hook people in and should feature the “best parts” but like a Movie trailer I feel less is more.

If you tell me all the funny parts chances are I wont laugh when they actually happen. If you tell me I’m in for a Hunger Games cross The Night Circus I want some FREAKIN AMAZBALL stuff not a mediocre book that could have been good if it wasn’t compared to highly praised books.

Okay back to the point. If the book tells me I’m going to cry then I will try not to (I usually still cry because I’m over sensitive about my fictional lands and the people who dwell happily ever after in them.) Did you read that Authors? HAPPILY I SAY!

If the Synopsis promises Killing, then I want some one to die! If it promises me some amazing world building you better believe I’m going to be looking out for something that blows me away and if it doesn’t it is going to bring the book rating down for me.

Would you like to know what I do LOVE? Underrated descriptions.

A re-cap that gives nothing away and allows the book to blow my mind. A book with a plot twist in it that is not ADVERTISED! Don’t tell me there is a plot twist, I beg of you. I will spend the entire time making far-fetched scenarios and when we get to the plot twist I won’t be blown away.

Seriously me being surprised at a plot twist I didn’t see coming compared to prior warning

Having a tiny description can have it’s cons to. Like not as many people reaching for it based on synopsis but believe me it if its good us book-worms will talk and the hype will spread a lot 🙂

Have you guys been duped by books that promise you the most fantastic story only to give you crushed expectations? Or have you found any hidden treasures in disguise as your average Joe of books?

Let me know what you think of books that give too much away. Do you like knowing it will make you cry? or would you prefer it didn’t tell you and you got to experience it all yourself?

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32 thoughts on “Over selling descriptions :Discussion Post”

This happens so often. I just finished one book that claimed to be a dark retelling full of sacrifice. Turns out it was just a shallow romance. Or the one I read that promised court intrigue and politics (which I love), and ended up being a frontier novel. It is so frustrating!

I know! I feel like most of my favorite books have not many promises in there descriptions but if they do I want it followed through! A Dark Retelling full of sacrifices sounds amazing and when you go into it looking for epicness and come out with a crappy love story it’s disappointing 😦
I would much prefer a synopsis to tell me barely anything and just get my interests up rather then oversell itself.

Yes! I’m sure publishers know this, so I don’t know why they continue to allow it to happen 😦 Maybe one day people will learn and stop over promising. I’ve read a lot of 2-3 star reads lately because of this, I’m going to start being pickier with my books and make sure to read the reviews instead of just jumping in 🙂

Exactly you’ll never know if a book is truly for you unless you read it for yourself but I find sometimes if reviews mention certain tropes I can think if it is for me or not.
I love books that have an either love it of hate type reviews because I like seeing where I fall in the rating category 🙂

I tend to be the same way. Middle of the road reviews rarely convince me to read a book. If the reviews are glowing, I want in. If they suck, I want to see if I agree. Sometimes. Sometimes people say a book sucks and I just take their word for it because it didn’t sound like my kind of book anyway.

OMG YES! I hate this some much. If a book is highly recommended I will skim to synopsis and if it sounds interesting I will buy it, but I try not to read the synopsis again right before I read it because so many times I’ve done that and it ruined the story, I got just as much from the story as I did from the synopsis. The back of the book should entice you to read and give a little taste, I don’t think it should be a summary of the story (if that makes sense).

I tend to do this with recommended books as well 🙂 I have The Smoke and Bone trilogy and I have no idea what it’s about but so many people have told me to pick it up so I will. Same as Illuminae I haven’t read the synopsis because I want to go into it blind 🙂

That makes perfect sense! Some book descriptions give so much of the plot away even mentioning that we won’t expect the “killer” of “villain” well now I’m going to suspect the most unlikely person and be right *sigh* I just want to know the themes not what the problems are that our characters have to face.

Ooh great post! I really dislike when blurbs are extremely over-descriptive or misleading. I’ve seen some books on Goodreads where the blurb has been like six paragraphs. No thanks. I live for descriptions that are extremely vague. I love going into books as blind as possible.

Yes to vague descriptions! They are the best I mean when I go into a book and it blows me away and takes me in directions I didn’t think we were going its the best, but if the synopsis is like chapter points why should I bother? I just read the basic outline.

I’ve gone in blind to so many books and there probably my favorites:D

It’s like how I feel about watching the movie before reading the book, sure its still good and I’ll still do it but whats the point?

When they include all the good bits in the synopsis it just annoys me so much! I don’t care about the filler and I already know the good parts so while they may still be fun to read it’s not as good as me discovering it for myself 😦

I find this happens with movies a lot as well. So many trailers include all the best punch lines and fight scenes and I don’t enjoy them when I actually watch it.

This is actually why I began writing my own little synopsis in my review and try not to include any kind of spoilers. There’s a lot of them that either give away way too much or not even close to what they are really about.

I love it when Goodreads has the previews on the book. I usually read these to see if I think I’ll like it and for books that I’m a bit weary of I’ll do the same and download the ebook sample before I buy the physical copy, the only problem with this is I’ll want to keep reading the ebook and most likely buy both so I don’t have to wait for my book to be delivered XD

I hate misleading and over-selling descriptions, they often create huge expectations that are rarely met. I like knowing only a little description as possible, just the general thought of the book. And yes! I hate it when plot twists are hinted, ugh my imagination is too wild for that I often think of the most crazy predictions. Lol. Great post! 💞

It just gets me because if they didn’t try to promise to much I would probably end up liking the book a lot more 😦
Gosh my imagination goes wild when someone say there’s a plot twist and I start over analyzing all the characters or when it says “you’ll never suspect the killer” well now I’m going to suspect everyone haha

“If the Synopsis promises Killing, then I want some one to die!” this speaks to me on a spiritual level lol. At the very least shed some blood guys!!
If I feel like a book will make me cry I look for detailed reviews. Just so I can prepare myself mentally, haha.

I fallen for so many synopsis without looking into reviews first. There’s nothing worse than wasting your time getting half way through something and just giving up because it didn’t deliver what was promised in the description.

I know! I used to be really determined to finish books and felt if I didn’t I was somehow wasting my money but now I don’t care. I’ve DNF more books this year then I have in my life and it leaves so much room to read better books that have been on my TBR for to long 🙂

Goodreads saves me a lot of the time as well, I’ll scan books in the bookstore if I like there synopsis and put them back if they have to many bad reviews. I used to just buy them and hope for the best but I started finding less and less great books that way.

Ooh, this is a really interesting discussion. Personally, I think the synopsis shouldn’t give too much away. Don’t promise a Hunger Games/ Night Circus baby if the book isn’t anything like the two. I don’t want to expect, I actually want to actually be surprised.

That’s the whole joy of reading for me, to be surprised and amazed at the story 🙂

I find so many new YA books compare themselves to the bigger series and end up seeming like sad versions of the story we already love or nothing like them at all and disappointing. There are a lot more books that I love with short synopsis’s then long detailed ones 🙂

Meta

My names Casey and I’m a book lover, all through my life books have helped me no matter the situation,
I read all genres but lately I’m a big fantasy and sci-fi reader. I listen to a lot of audio books and tend to love auto-biographies.
I started this blog in 2016 (do not go back to those posts I really warn you the cringe is to real) and a lot has changed since then but my love for reading and spreading that love hasn’t. This blog is book based but I’m going to start incorporating more life updates.
I can’t wait to dive into all the stories with everyone ❤️